Sunday, December 6, 2009

Community center opens door for singles program

By TOMIE LUNSFORD Telegram Staff Writer

There are folks in Temple ready and willing to start dating.
'The problem is meeting people,' said nurse Cheryl Bond of Temple. 'There's activities geared for kids, and there's activities geared for seniors, but everyone in the middle seems to be left out.'
Staff at the Sammons Community Center heard the plea for singles' fun and responded with a plan.
'We're starting with a monthly dinner on the second Tuesday of the month,' said Charity Diaz, Sammons program coordinator. 'It will be buffet style, so people will be up and mingling.'
The first three are scheduled from 7-9 p.m. Jan. 11, Feb. 8 and March 8.Ms. Bond is one of the four people helping Ms. Diaz plan the efforts.
'We've been sending out surveys to friends and churches to determine what kinds of things people are interested in doing,' Ms. Bond said.
Eventually the group wants to take day trips, have a karaoke night and go kayaking and hiking.
'Anything that's fun,' Ms. Bond said.
The group is targeting single adults from 30 to 55.
People interested in participating should call Ms. Diaz at 298-5930.
'We want input from the town on what they'd like in a group like this,' Ms. Diaz said. 'Now is the time to share ideas and get things rolling.'
Ms. Diaz said she has high hopes for the group to succeed.
'There's already a lot of enthusiasm,' Ms. Diaz said. 'I think this is going to be something people will want to enjoy.'
Ms. Bond agreed.
'The goal is to give single people the opportunity to develop a strong social network of potential friends and dates,' Ms. Bond said. 'With our's being a transient, mobile society, maintaining that network can be difficult. So we need things like this that will help people connect.'

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I'm a journalist with more than a decade of experience. My bylines have appeared in the Hutto News, the Taylor Press, the Temple Daily Telegram, the Galveston County Daily News, the El Campo Leader-News, the Austin American-Statesman, the Dallas Morning News and the Abilene Reporter News.
More than 20 of my features have been published in several other publications via the Associated Press.